Boehner Opens Door to Tax Increases

Look folks, last night’s election showed us once again that when we offer the voters a choice between two visions of big government, they will pick the more authentic one. With that said, before the ink is even dry on the results of the election, Boehner is per-emptively undercutting Republican leverage on the fiscal cliff by agreeing to put tax increases on the table.

Republicans are “willing to accept new revenue” to tame the soaring national debt and avert an ugly battle over the approaching “fiscal cliff,” House Speaker John A. Boehner said Wednesday in a speech that offered a potential path to compromise in year-end budget negotiations.

With President Obama reelected and Republicans returned to a slightly smaller majority in the House, Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday’s election amounted to a plea from voters for the parties to lay down their weapons of the past two years and “do what’s best for our country.”

“That is the will of the people. And we answer to them,” Boehner said, according to advance excerpts of a speech he planned to deliver at an afternoon news conference at the Capitol. “For purposes of forging a bipartisan agreement that begins to solve the problem, we’re willing to accept new revenue, under the right conditions.”

The sad thing is that we have actually gained leverage over Obama on the fiscal cliff. Remember that Obama totally obviated his leverage when he let it slip during the debate that “the sequester will never happen.” He planned on forcing tax hikes in turn of the defense cuts, but now that he admitted that it will never happen, Boehner had the opportunity to call him on it. Instead he is responding with his own unilateral pre-emptive surrender of leverage.